The Week of November 30 - December 4

It's already December!

All this week we are investigating the importance of healthy eating.  Lisa and Nav are registered dietitians helping us through not just the Canadian Food Guide, but the reasons behind it.  Lisa and Nav are the experts in the classroom!

Dinner with the Junior Girls

Tuesday night, all of the elementary teachers were invited to the Junior Girls' residence for supper.  We made homemade lasagna using my secret sauce recipe.  Although the oven took forever to bake dinner, and we had a lock down practice, dinner turned out to be fantastic! 

Around the table from left to right: Helen, Mr. Di Donato,Jessica, Rebecca, Emma, Maggie, Abbie, Molly D., Sarah, Mrs. LeSage, Bella (pink shirt by couch)

Sagonaska Works Out at Belleville Crossfit

Our class (minus Maggie who went with the grade 8's) on the way! Don't worry, we were parked when I snapped this one!

 Students working hard through their workout!

 Students learning the proper form of the burpee!

While at the Crossfit gym, Coach Bowman warmed the students up, taught them proper form and technique, then put them through a workout.  The work out consisted of 15 squats, 15 burpees, 15 sit ups and 15 push ups. Most students did at least three rounds! We have some seriously fit kids!

Goals

I am almost through reading diagnostic assessments with the students.  That means, our reading goals are changing!  We have made a system where students can see their progress because we have kept the achieved goals behind the current goals.

     We have new writing goals too! We are currently writing scripts to perform for the Holiday Extravaganza on December 17! Students are learning about the importance of descriptive writing with lots of organization, focus, descriptive details all in order to produce a clear mental image for our audience. 

This is the descriptive writing matrix that allows students to self assess their writing.  They also use this success criteria to help each other bump up their work.

     We are working through the math problem solving framework which was created right here at Sagonaksa by our very own Mr. Richardson and Mr. Brown!

So far the students in grade 7 have investigated the first 4 sections. Next week we will be working though the last two parts! This framework allows students to plan exactly how they will solve problems in math!

Keeping Up With Di Donato's Grade 7's is Hard Work!

To say that the students (and the teacher) have been busy the last few weeks would be an understatement.  Do to our small class sizes, intensity of programming and BIG expectations, progress occurs at light speed.

Review meetings have been going well.  Students are doing a fabulous job at showing off their progress.  To compliment the review meetings, the grade 7's had a circle in order to take a few minutes and take a look back.  We asked the students to reflect on the progress they have made so far. The kids should be proud of themselves, I am!

After reflecting on progress, we had the students focus on next steps.  We created a new "Goal Board" and talked more about the importance of goal setting. It is amazing how the students embrace the board and actually use it.

The Provincial Advocate came for a visit on Tuesday afternoon.  He is on a listening tour which takes him all over the province.  He and his team thought very highly of our students after meeting him.
Curtis came back! Quinte Conservation Authority was nice enough to do some community outreach.  November 18, 2015 was World GIS day! Amy and Curtis came back to explain some different applications as well as the importance of GIS.  It fits nicely into the grade 7 Geography unit.

Amy and Curtis went through some topographic maps the first time they visited.

On their most recent visit, Curtis and Amy explained the importance of GIS.

It isn't just the students that get an education here at Sagonaska.  It is the teachers too! Last week while the kids were away, we were working hard on how we can improve student understanding of math concepts.  Mr. Brown and Mr. Richardson did a great job of putting together a full day of PD for us on Wednesday.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the teachers were trained in Google for Education! We learned new tools that we can use to help students work around their LD's.  These tools have already been implemented into our teaching.  Students should be able to use these tools  when they transition back to their home schools!

In geography we are learning about how people in different parts of the world survive and thrive.  We are investigating different land forms, how climates impact a communities accessibility to resources and how political systems, economics and culture can affect how different groups access resources. We are starting to consolidate all of our learning on our new Minecraft Edu server.  The kids are working collaboratively to solve a common goal - create a community that has access to food, water and shelter in environments that the teachers create.

The Importance of a Summary by austin

Question 1. Instructions to writing a summary.

First you are going to read the text. Next your going to restate the question in a sentence. Then you are going to answer the question. Now you explain your answer. Then you rap it up.

question 2 When you write a summary what does it force you to do?

It forces you to think.                                   

It's Forcing you to check your work.  it's forcing you to plan.

question 3 When is it useful to read a summary instead of the whole text?

Before you buy a chapter book.

Example of a summary:

The Earthquake In The Indian ocean

On December 26, 2004, there was a huge earthquake under the Indian Ocean. The underwater earthquake created a tsunami. 16 hours later, 230 000 people in 14 countries were dead more than 1.7 million people were made homeless by the event. The tsunami sped at 480 km per hour when the tsunami hit the shore. This wave was as high as a five-story building. Coral reefs, mangrove swamps, and wetlands along the coast were severely damaged.

By: Austin

The Importance of a Summary by John

The steps how to make a summary. 

1. - Read the text.
2. - Re-read the text and only highlight the important information
3. - Re-read what you have highlighted
4. - Write your summary by using only the important information that you highlighted
5. - Re-read your summary and check for mistakes
6. - Fix any mistakes
7. - Let a classmate check it for your mistakes
8. - Fix it's by the positive feedback you are given
9. - Hand in your summary

When you write a summary what does it force you to do?

When you write a summary it forces you to highlight the important information. It helps me understand what I am reading.

When is it useful to read a summary instead of the whole text?

It is useful to write a summary when you don't have a lot of time. You are only looking for the important information.

Jamie's blogger assignment

Summary blogger Assignment

by Jamie

Steps to writing a summary

Read the text
Highly important information
Read read the highlighted information and make sure it's all import into
rewrite or copy and paste the highlighted information
Bump it up
Hand it in


When you write a summary what does it force you to do?
When you write a summary what does it force you to do? A summary forces you To separate the important information . It will not the put the unimportant information in the text. That is important because you don't want unimportant information in your assignment.


When is it useful to read a summary instead of the whole text?
When is it important to write a summary? It is important to write a summary is when you need important information and there will only be Important information. Also it will be more easier to read the text.

Success Criteria:
Create a plan that you can share on the blog
Answer the three questions in full sentences
Have a peer reread your work
Bump it up based on the positive feedback you receive
Post your work in blog post called “The Importance of a Summary - by _________”

How To Write A Summary By Maggie Hartwig

Pretend you are a teacher, explain (in your own words) how to write a summary to your students - feel free to make a list! 

When you write a summary what does it force you to do? 

     

Explain ideas on a piece of paper (Google Docs).  When you write a summary it allows you to understand what you are reading. It allows you to understand what you are reading because you chunk it up all the good information into one good  paragraph.

It is useful to read a summary when you have less time of the whole text?  

It is useful to write a summary then you have less time, when it is a shorter passage to read it is easy to understand . Why it is easy to understand is because it breaks the summary  into smaller steps . It's the most important passage to read when you have all the good information.

How To Make a Summary Reflection

When I write a summary I go in steps first I read the text, usually once or twice.  Next I will highlight the important information in the text so it's easier to find the important information when I go to write my summary.  Then I will reread my highlighted information and make sure I only have the most important details. I will now write my summary with the important information I have highlighted, then I will read my summary with a peer to look for mistakes. After my summaries finished I will look at it and try to make it the next level(bump it up). Last I'll hand in.

When you write a summary it forces you to think hard and break down the text into the most important in formation.  Making it short and sweet and right on point for the reader.

Reading the entire text can take more time from the reader then it would be to just read a summary on it. All a summary is, is the most important information from the text.

How to make a good summary

        The Importance of a how to make a Summary

by: Harry

Question 1) Pretend you are a teacher, explain (in your own words) how to write a summary to your students - feel free to make a list!

1. First you need to read the text and then reread the text over again.

2. You will highlight the key information that you read.

3. Re read the sentences that are highlighted. Then put them into your own words.

4. Then when you are done putting the highlights  into your own words ,reread the highlighted sentences and put the highlights into a paragraph. 
5. That’s how you can make a summary!!.        

Question 2) 
When you write a summary what does it force you to do?

A summary forces you to make a short paragraph that summarizes the import details or information in the story. It allows you to find the key information faster.  

Question 3) 
When is it useful to read a summary instead of the whole text?

It is useful to read a summary instead of the whole text, 

when you don't have a lot of time.When you read a summary it breaks down the whole text into a paragraph full of the key information.

This is my summary that I wrote.

The Earthquake Under the Indian Ocean

On December 26, 2004 there was a earthquake . The tsunami was traveling at 480 km per hour. It was the third-largest earthquake ever recorded. When the earthquake hit shores the tsunami was as big as a five-story building.When the wave had finally flowed back to the ocean, about 16 hours later, 230 000 people in 14 countries were dead and more than 45000 people were missing. It will take many years for these countries,environments to return to the natural way it was before the earthquake hit.   

Are your Students Fluent with their Technology?

If you follow our blog, or know what we do here at Sagonaska, then you already know that we put a lot of weight on our students being self advocates.  One of the most important self advocacy strategies we teach for students to be fluent with their devices.

In September and October, we spent a lot of time explicitly teaching students how to use their devices to help them learn.  We are now starting to see the rewards from all of the student's hard work in learning how to harness the power of their technology.  We are at the point now where students are just about independent with their personal mobile devices when it comes to learning.  We simply post a task in our Google Classroom and students are able to fluently navigate their device to complete the task.

Here is an example.

In geography, students have been learning about different landscapes and impacts people can have on them.  Students are also learning about how landforms can impact different societies.  In language we are learning about making connections.

We posted this question and a connections framework (students have used the framework before).  Then we started the timer.

The Question

The Framework

The process of finding and deconstructing the question, putting the framework into a format students could manipulate, took about three minutes.  So, in about ten minutes our students had completed two or three deep, meaningful connections that linked the big ideas we are learning about in geography, to "The Lorax".  

This may not sound like a big deal.  You may be thinking that a student should be able to pick up a pencil and write two or three deep, meaningful connections in under ten minutes.  The amazing part here isn't the time it took.  It is the fact that we took a handful of students who work with a reading disorder and did this.  

By simply teaching students how to use multiple different apps to their advantage, students who have struggled in the past with learning, are transformed into confident students. By teaching students how to harness the power of their technology for learning we have leveled the playing field for them! This is a big deal! 

We Have Been VERY Busy!

The Weekly Update!

The Importance of Mindful Awareness in the Classroom

Does the word mindfulness mean anything to you?  After several years of teaching students with severe LDs, I have come to realize that teaching students to be mindful can foster huge results.  

We have three pillars at Sagonaska demonstration school; learn to read (better), learn to self advocate and learn to use technology in a way that assists students in learning.  To help with the self advocacy piece, Mr. Brown (@andrewpjbrown) turned Sagonaska onto a program called Mindup.  

"MindUP™ teaches social and emotional learning skills that link cognitive neuroscience, positive psychology and mindful awareness training utilizing a brain centric approach."

In the first few lessons students understand that the brain works like a team.  The prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampus all work together to help make decisions.  After only a few lessons from the MindUp curriculum, students are better equipped be more mindful.  

I have found that students make mindful choices when they know how their brains work, and they understand how to use strategies to help slow the decision making process down.  Strategies such as deep breathing, listening to calming music, taking extra time to assess situations and choosing an optimistic attitude are all ways we can get students to make more mindful decisions.

Whether you are a student or a teacher, I want to know what you do in your classroom to be more mindful.  Please leave your comments below!

The Week of September 21 - 25, 2015

Another Crazy, Busy Week!

We started the Empower Reading program this week.  It is going well for students who are learning strategies to help them read words that they don't yet know.  The program was developed by Sick Kids in Toronto and gets results! Check out the Empower Reading Program.

We have also been learning a lot about mindfulness.  We are using a program called Mindup. This program teaches students mindful awareness.  Mr. Hayes and I did a little hands on lesson all about interconnection.  The lesson connects with both geography and mindfulness.

The red yarn represents connections between each other.  If one person pulls the yarn, everyone else holding the yarn feels the pull.  Relates to global issues (geography) and mindfulness (making choices).

Speaking of mindfulness...

We reached out to one of our Twitter friends this week!  We had a question about the Prefrontal Cortex (the front part of your brain which is responsible for making decisions).

We Day 2015!

Some of the students at Sagonaska will have the chance to attend We Day 2105 in Toronto.  If your student is in their first year, they have been invited.  Please look for the permission forms in the blue home going folder.  Also, please send any forms back ASAP so that we can start planning accordingly.

Fitness!

Mr. Hayes and I have been working on a fitness unit in gym class.  Your students are going to be lean mean learning machines!  We have also been encouraging students to wash their hands as it is the time of year we start to see a lot kids getting sick!  No body likes being sick.

Have a great weekend with family and friends!

The Week of September 14, 2015

As usual, we had a VERY busy week!

Most students got their Diagnostic Reading assessments done, we went on a field trip to Wesley Acres and the students even made their first blog post.

Check out the blog posts by your students, the pictures, videos and tweets that help to describe our awesome week!

We celebrated a couple of birthdays with some homemade poutine!

We read a book called "Rosie Revere Engineer" by Andrea Beaty. We used this book to help us define what exactly Teamwork is! Here is the anchor chart!

In My First Two Weeks!!

This is what I learned in the first two weeks at Sagonaska.

My First Two Weeks...

My first two weeks at Sagonaska I have learned...

What I have Learned at Sagonaska so Far

Here is a video explaining what I have learned at Sagonaska so far!

In My First Two Weeks

 Watch this video to see what I have learned In my first two weeks at Sagonaska!  
     

MY FIRST TWO WEEKS

Check out what I learned at Sagonaska in my first two weeks!

In My First Two Weeks At Sag...

In my first two weeks at sagonaska I learned.

My First Two Weeks...

Here is what I learned in my first two weeks at Sagonaska.

Using Technology for Creativity and Communication

Last year a film crew sent by the Ministry Education came to capture what we do here at Sagonaska. Here is a 5 minute snapshot of  some of the ways we use our assisstive technology  at Sagonaska.

Check it out on the Edugains website!

http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/21stCenturyLearning/index.html

Parent Involvement - How to Support Your Child's Learning

On the first day of school, parents always ask "What is the best way for me to help support my child's learning?".  Below is a list of the top answers I provide (the students helped me with some of these!).

1. Ask the teacher questions
2. Keep lines of communication open
3. Subscribe to the classroom blog
4. Follow us on Twitter
5. Don't let things linger
6. Volunteer in the classroom
7. READ with your child!
8. Ask your child what their favorite and their least favorite part of the school day is or was
9. Keep the teacher in the loop
10. Send indoor shoes
11. Put names on EVERYTHING
12. Encourage your child to ask "Why?"
13. Set the bar high!
14. Send old  books and magazines to the class
15. Send an extra set of clothes
16. Ensure your child is eating healthy

A parent sent this in! One of a teacher's best ally is the parents of the students they teach!

Our First Week! (Sept. 8 - 11)

We have had a fantastic week! Take a look through the Storify that we created and you can catch up with what we have done so far! I am very excited for this year as we have a fantastic class this year!

Here is what the students said when I asked "What is one thing you like about Sagonaska so far?"

Emma: "Knowing that I will get the help I want and need."

Jamie:  "I like that the staff set up fun games for the kids!"

Maggie:  "I get to see old friends and meet new friends"

Harry:  "The swimming."

Austin:  "I like my residence."

John:  "I like the residence"

Blair:  "I like the pool!"

Please be sure to check students' backpacks for their home going folders.  There is a folder from residence and a folder from the classroom.  Please check both!

Parent Homework...Leave a comment below explaining how you think this blog helps you as a parent!

The First Day of the School Year - Making the Transition Easy forParents

IWelcome to the 2015/2016 school year! Whether you are a teacher, student, parent, administrator, etc, I hope that you have fun! For some, the day can will be full of joy and happiness! For others, it may be full of angst. For me, its a bit of both.

Personally I always get a little bit anxious about the start of the new year. There are usually more questions than answers which causes me a little stress. Something I do to prepare myself mentally for the new year is to reflect on two things; why I became a teacher in the first place and how important a teacher's role is.  Thinking about these two questions actually relaxes me.

As one of my eldest daughter starts school today, I was thinking of how I could calm my nerves about her first day (from a parent perspective). Again, for my wife and I there are WAY more questions than answers (and I am a teacher!).  My current role is a special education resource teacher in a provincial;l demonstration school setting.  One of elements of our school is that we are a residential school.  So naturally, my experience brought me to the next question,

How do I help the parents of my students feel comfortable in leaving their kids with us for a full school year (minus weekends and holidays)?

Here is what I am going to do in the hour that I get to meet with the parents and students as they make their transition to Sagonaska Demonstration School...

1. Circle with the other grade 7 teacher, students and their parents. I plan on keeping the topic of this circle pretty light.
2. My perspective of the summer vacation through pictures
3. Review expectations for teacher/parent communication
4. Drawing of one of my favorite pictures about living with an LD
5. Time for questions and exchanging of contact information

I hope that your first days go well and are filled with fun and focused on building a community within your classroom and school!

I would also love to know what you do to help parents/students transition from Summer break to the first days of school? Leave a comment below!

Welcome to the 2015/2016 School Year!

Welcome to the new Blog!

Don't worry... all the posts that we worked so hard on last year are still up at sagonaskagrade8d.blogspot.ca !  

I thought it would be nice for my new students to have a fresh start!

I am very excited to see the progress my new students will make this year!

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